When the “blogging revolution” first began, blogs looked like blogs and websites looked like websites. One could easily tell the difference.
Then WordPress came along and changed all this. Now, it’s becoming almost impossible to tell blogs and websites apart. Not so much in terms of what the sites are being used for, but in terms of website design and also being able to tell what’s under the surface.
(It’s Getting Harder To Tell Websites Built With Web Development Tools Vs ‘Blogging’ Software!)
For many website owners, understanding the difference between a Content Management System application like WordPress and other website-building software is huge, not so much in terms of the technical differences, but more importantly, regarding the things that the majority of website owners care most about, like web development costs, ease of use, ability to keep the website up-to-date, managing content, etc.
Think about this …
Which of the options below would you choose?
A) An eye-catching, professional-looking website that is expensive to build, or
B) The same eye-catching, professional-looking site, but at a cost that turns out to be significantly less than the cost of getting site “A” above.
If you picked web site ”B” above, then you need to learn more about the benefits of using WordPress, why WordPress can provide you with an eye-catching website that will normally turn out to be much less expensive to build than websites which are built with web-building software … and how to tell the two apart!
WordPress is the world’s most used online publishing platform and content management system (CMS). It is a flexible and powerful content management tool that is ideally suited for local businesses.
Whether your reason for having an online presence is for personal blogging or business use, WordPress is easy enough for a newbie with no technical knowledge to use, and offers many helpful features that make your website extremely effective when it comes to getting your content published and indexed by search engines, promoting visitor engagement, generating business leads and sales, enhancing your site’s functionality, scalability, etc.
With almost one in every five websites around the world being powered by WordPress, chances are that if you already own a website, yours is also a WordPress site.
And if you don’t have a website yet, or are thinking of getting a website built, then wouldn’t it be great to be able to show your web developer an existing website with the design and layout that you like, know that it was built with WordPress and that you can, therefore, get something similarly built for a much smaller cost?
How Can I Check If My Web Site Was Built Using WordPress?
Do you need to know if your website uses WordPress? Maybe you’ve come here because you’ve heard about WordPress, and you’re now wondering if your site was built using the WordPress software, or some other website application.
Also, have you ever looked at a competitor’s website and wondered what they’re doing to try and get better results online?
Knowing if your competitor’s site is built with WordPress can tell you a few things about their strategies and methods, such as what themes or plugins they are using.
Here are a number of ways to tell if a site is running on WordPress:
Check The Page’s Source Code For Obvious TellTale WordPress Footprints
If you know how to check the source code of a web page (e.g. Firefox Menu > Web Developer > Page Source if using Firefox, or Google Menu > More Tools > View Source if using Google Chrome), you can look for a tell-tale footprint that the site was built with WordPress …
(Viewing your page source code in Firefox)
Let’s say that you are browsing online and you come across a website that you like, and you’re wondering if the site runs on WordPress …
First, bring up the site’s source code on your screen, using the methods described above.
In the page’s source code, you can search for words like “wp-content” either by visually scanning the code …
Or using your browser’s “Find” function …
(Using the Firefox browser ‘Find’ function)
This will tell you if the site was built with WordPress or not.
Note: If you cannot see the words “wp-content” in the source code, it does not mean that it’s not a WordPress site.
There are other ways to find out if a site was built using WordPress, as we will soon see.
As the point of this post is to help non-technical users, however, below you will find a number of easier methods you can use to check if your site is built with WordPress other than searching the source code.
Simply Ask Your Website Developer
While this may seem like the logical thing to do, some website developers, for whatever reason, may build clients a website and not tell them it’s WordPress.
If you paid a website developer or got somebody else to build your website, just ask your web developer or whoever built your website if it has been built using WordPress.
That was simple, huh?
Okay … what if you can’t get in touch with the person who built your website, or what if you’ve come across a website that you really like while browsing the net and you would like to know if the site was built using WordPress?
Powered By WordPress
If the site uses a WP theme and the web templates have not been edited, you can typically find a “Powered by WordPress” notice showing at the bottom of the site …
(Powered by WordPress – footer)
If the methods above haven’t helped you, here are some other ways of identifying WordPress sites …
Sites That Tell You If A Website Has Been Built With WordPress
Here are a couple of online applications that will tell you if your website uses WordPress or not, and what themes or plugins the site uses …
IsItWP.com – WP Checker
(Is It WordPress?)
IsItWP.com is a free online tool that can check very quickly if a website was built using WordPress or not.
Using this site is super easy. Just enter the address of the website into the search field and click the button.
The tool will then search through the site code and tell you if the site was built using WordPress, and if so, which version of WordPress the site is currently using …
If the web site was not built using WordPress, you will see a message similar to the one below …
To visit this site, go here:
Advanced WP Theme Checker by Satori
(WordPress Theme Detector)
WordPress Theme Detector by Satori Studio is a free tool that can help determine whether or not a website uses WordPress as its CMS engine; it will also tell you which theme the site is using and provide a link to the theme’s official page.
To use this tool, paste the URL of a web page (it doesn’t have to be the home page) into the ‘Enter website URL’ field and click on the ‘What WordPress theme is that?’ button …
(Enter website URL and click the button)
The Theme Detector will automatically scan the website and output its theme information …
(WordPress Theme Detector displays theme results)
If a website is built with WordPress but the theme is too customized to contain any traces of its origins, the Detector will still let you know it’s a WP site by outputting a message on the right.
(Modified WordPress theme message)
If the website is not using WordPress at all, the tool will also let you know …
(This website is not WordPress)
You can try the Detector yourself by visiting this link:
Wappalyzer.com
(Wappalyzer – Web Browser Add-On (Firefox / Chrome))
If you browse the net using either the Firefox or Google Chrome browsers and would like to be able to see if the sites that you are visiting have been built using WordPress, then Wappalyzer is a very useful add-on to add to your browser.
Wappalyzer identifies what type of software is installed on the sites you are visiting.
According to their website …
“Wappalyzer is a browser extension that uncovers the technologies used on websites. It detects content management systems, eCommerce platforms, web servers, JavaScript frameworks, analytics tools and many more.”
Wappalyzer is also a very easy web browser extension to install.
Once you have installed the Wappalyzer extension on your browser, icons will appear in your web browser menu, in the URL field allowing you to see which software is being used by the sites you visit …
If the WordPress icon shows up on your browser menu (as the above screenshot shows), then the site uses WordPress.
(A WordPress site!)
Visit the Wappalyzer browser extension website here:
SpyBar
(SpyBar – Browser Addon For WordPress)
SpyBar is a browser addon that lets you ‘reverse engineer’ any WordPress site you visit and see which WordPress plugins and themes are being used, right inside your web browser …
(SpyBar – Discover WordPress Plugins And Themes Used By Your Competitors)
SpyBar can be installed as a browser extension on Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox and is compatible with PC and Mac.
To download or learn more about SpyBar, go here:
Plugin Sniper
(Plugin Sniper – Find out what plugins a WordPress site is using)
Plugin Sniper lets you find out what plugins a WordPress site is using. This is a useful tool if you want to know what WordPress plugins are being used by your competitors.
Plugin Sniper is also a useful tool for researching what kinds of plugins businesses in certain niches are using …
(Search WordPress sites by categories and location)
To download or learn more about Plugin Sniper, visit the site below:
We hope that you have found this the information in this tutorial useful.
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"This is AMAZING! I had learnt about how to use WordPress previously, but this covers absolutely everything and more!! Incredible value! Thank you!" - Monique, Warrior Forum